Camp Charming

The Man Under the Hood

My body aches... what happened? I was looking for Drew and I, what exactly? Blacked out? Ugh, everything hurts....

Grimacing, I open my eyes and take in a shaky breath. My throat burns and I stare up at the black sky. I can see the slight shadow of the tree line, about 12 feet up from where I lay. I have to be dead, no way should I be alive, or every bone in my body should be broken. Groaning, I slowly sit up, my body creaks and pops and I let out a huffy breath. I stay that way for a little bit, sitting there huffing holding and trying to let the pain pass, but of course it doesn't.

   "Drew..." I mutter and go to stand up, but my ankle burns intensely and I suck in a breath. "Oh boy..." I fall to my knees and cough as I begin crawling around on the ground searching for a stick or something. I find a rather tall and thick tree limb and grip it as I begin to stand. It creaks with my body weight but holds up. "Slow and easy.." I mumble and take a step, then limp, step, limp, step, limp. "Drew!" I call and shift my body as I gobble along. I walk and my foot catches on something slick. I catch myself before I fall and I pull my squat down touching the ground. It's wet and sticky, when I pull my hand back up, the slight moonlight catches a red substance, and my heart jumps to my throat.

   I look up and the moon begins to come out from it's hiding place behind the clouds, shining on the ground, showing my the drops of blood, leading me to where ever she is. "Because this isn't sketchy at all..." I mutter and shake my head, following the path, praying that it leads me to get and no some injured animal that limped off after that nasty fall.

I walk a ways, following the splatters of blood on the rocks. The path is round stones, cobblestone I believe, and it curves and blood shines against it like oil. "Drew." I call and peek into a bush, nope. I turn back and begin following the path once again. My head hurts and I yawn as I stumble along. My ankle throbs with intense pain, but I push it away and walk on. "Drew." I shout, my voice echoes around me and it's followed but a sudden burst of thunder. My head snaps to the sky, the moon begins to hide once again and I shout out. "No!" Rain instantly pours from the sky and I scream out and hurry trying to find the blood. It washes away with the ongoing pour and I let out another shout that is drowned out by the rain. Then, my foot slips and I slam into the ground, my breath knocked out of me. I stare up at the sky the rain pounding into the front of my body. "I couldn't do it." I mumble and I close my eyes, my body feels heavier than it has been, everything feels tired and I can't seem to stay awake.

•*•*•

*splash. Splash.*

My eyes squint open slightly, but fall back into place from being so tired. My body feels like it's floating, but I still feel all kinda of pain. I hear a grunt and know instantly it's a bear, my end it here.

"I'm sorry Drew." I mumble and I hear a cough. My eyes snap open and I lurch up looking around. It's no longer raining, and I seem to be floating in the air. "Ahh!" I shout and fall back, the person holding me let's go and I slam into the stone. "Owe!" I groan and kick back trying to distance myself from them. "Who are you? What do you want? Are you going to eat me?" I grab a rock and toss it at them, he casually dodges and I glare at him. "What is your name?!"

   He doesn't say anything, he simply stares down at me from under his hood. His face completely covered, and then he squats down grabbing my ankle. I shout out in pain as I try to pull it away but his grip is firm and I bite my lip. He reaches behind him and I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for him to begin cutting off my foot.

   "Huh?" I open my eyes to see him wrapping my ankle with some sticky stuff on some leaves. Then, he grabs some scraps of clothes and begins wrapping them around the leaf wrap. "That actually feels really nice." He stands up, finished with his work, and hold out his hand to help me up. I take his extended hand and he pulls my arm around his shoulder and he hands me my shoe. Together we walk along, neither of us speak.

   The only sound is my heavy breaths of pain as I trudge along beside him. We are about the same height, he may have 2 or 3 inches on me. We round a corner, the sons of rushing water in the distance. Looking around, I can see slight shapes in the darkness, maybe a house or a cabin? I really can't be sure, not until the morning anyways.

   "So, do you just like, live in the woods?" I ask, still no answer. "You're not very good at communication." Then the thought hits me that maybe he doesn't know exactly how to talk. Well if that's the case I'm a total asshole.

   He comes to a stop and I stop along with him. He lifts up his arm and points at something off in the distance by a fire. Squinting, I wobble a little closer and laying there, covered with a blanket and sleeping peacefully on the ground, is Drew.

•*•*•

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